Angels’ Loss Builds From the Ground Up

NEW YORK â€”  The Angels and New York Yankees played more than four hours of baseball Sunday in front of a fun-house mirror, the teams’ reflection distorted by a grueling afternoon of oddities, wacky bounces and strange twists and turns.

Just when you’d expect something to happen in Yankee Stadium, the opposite did. Just when it seemed one team would win, it didn’t. Twice.

And the final result, the Yankees’ 8-7, come-from-behind victory that ended with Tony Womack’s run-scoring single off Angel reliever Kevin Gregg in the bottom of the 11th inning, was enough to make the Angels’ heads spin.

“This game,� Angel first baseman Darin Erstad said, in perhaps the best summation of the day, “makes no sense sometimes.�

Not when Randy Johnson, the Yankee ace who has dominated the Angels for years, gets cuffed around for six runs in 7 1/3 innings, and Angel rookie Chris Bootcheck, who was called up from triple A Saturday to make his first start of the season, limits one of baseball’s most potent lineups to one run in six innings.

Not when the teeth of the Angel bullpen, reliable relievers Brendan Donnelly and Scot Shields, run into more control problems and give up key hits, and the Angels blow a four-run, eighth-inning lead for the second straight day.

Not when Erstad, who cannot remember a ground ball going through his legs -- ever -- sees Tino Martinez’s potential double-play ball shoot under his glove for an eighth-inning error that keys the Yankee rally and is the primary reason the Angels’ American League West lead over Oakland has been trimmed to 1 1/2 games.

Not when the Angels, whose 1-5 trip through Toronto and New York included three extra-inning losses, score a run off bullet-proof Yankee closer Mariano Rivera on Chone Figgins’ triple and Vladimir Guerrero’s single to take a 7-6 lead in the top of the 10th inning.

And not when sure-handed shortstop Orlando Cabrera, with the Angels one out away from victory, can’t handle Gary Sheffield’s bad-hop grounder in the bottom of the 10th inning, enabling the Yankees to score the tying run.

“It was a crazy game,� Angel second baseman Adam Kennedy said. “It’s just not easy to get a win against them, especially here.�

The Angels were in prime position to win Sunday because of Bootcheck and the Brothers Molina -- catcher Bengie hit a three-run home run off Johnson in the fourth, and first baseman Jose hit a solo shot off Johnson in the fifth.

Despite solo home runs by Yankee designated hitter Jason Giambi in the second inning off Bootcheck and in the seventh inning off Esteban Yan, the Angels were in good shape after Cabrera’s RBI double and Juan Rivera’s sacrifice fly pushed the lead to 6-2 in the top of the eighth.

But Donnelly walked Sheffield to open the bottom of the eighth, and, after a wild pitch, Hideki Matsui hit a one-out RBI single to make it 6-3. Donnelly walked Giambi, and Angel Manager Mike Scioscia summoned Shields to face Martinez, who ripped a shot right at Erstad, who had replaced Jose Molina in the seventh.

But the ball scooted through Erstad’s legs and into right field, allowing Matsui to score, Giambi to take third and Martinez to take second.

“I just whiffed it,� said Erstad, who won a Gold Glove award last season. “I screwed up the play and cost us the game.�

Bernie Williams’ sacrifice fly pulled the Yankees within 6-5, and Shields walked Jorge Posada. Derek Jeter then lined a game-tying RBI single to right.

Kennedy’s error and reliever Joel Peralta’s walk allowed the Yankees to put two on with two out in the ninth, but Angel third baseman Maicer Izturis saved the game with a spectacular backhand diving stop of Andy Phillips’ grounder and threw to first in time for the out.

The Angels scored in the top of the 10th, and with closer Francisco Rodriguez unavailable because he had pitched in three straight games, the Angels turned to Gregg in the bottom of the 10th.

It appeared the right-hander would escape a first-and-third, one-out jam when he struck out Robinson Cano and induced Sheffield’s grounder to short. But the final bounce kicked up Cabrera’s forearm -- the play was ruled a hit -- and the Yankees tied the score, 7-7.

Matsui led off the 11th with a triple to center, and after an intentional walk to Giambi, Phillips struck out. But Womack drove a full-count grounder through the left side of the Angels’ five-man infield for the game-winner.